Cash boost for Greenwich site

THE Government has pledged £700,000 for a centre telling the story of the Greenwich World Heritage site.

Fundraising had hit the buffers but the new Discover Greenwich tourist centre, expected to be a major visitor magnet during the 2012 Olympics, was deemed too good to be lost.

A spokeswoman for the Greenwich Foundation, which developed the plans, said: "This was the final piece of the jigsaw."

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport found the money from unspent capital projects funding.

The £6million Discover Greenwich centre will tell the story of the site starting with the Tudor Palace, now buried, where Henry VIII and later his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were born. During the Napoleonic Wars, the site became home to the Greenwich Hospital and, later, the Royal Navy's staff college.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has put £1.8million toward the plans, which include a brasserie and microbrewery. The centre is due to open next year.